Computers and peripheral equipments as well as satellite and communication systems have involved rapidly in recent years. The data transmission rate of these systems has to be increased to control the systems and thus to execute highly sophisticated tasks, such as digital signal processing, imaging analysis, communication, and so on. For the present demand, the optical coupler is used in computers with short and long distances; moreover, several chips are integrated into a single printed circuit board (PCB). Also, high-speed signaling used in the electronic interconnection has been shown to enhance the data transmission rate.
To meet such a demand, some companies have a pair of LC plugs installed in a pair of bays and then securingly mounted on a PCB, which is further installed in the housing of a transceiver module such that the transceiver module may be inserted into or removed from the cage assembly of a mother board to know whether the transceiver module is in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,872,010 B1 discloses a fiber optical connector release mechanism, comprising a rotatable bail and a sliding handle. The handle comprises a pair of protruding arms whose ends have a wedge element, respectively, so as to be accommodated in the slide path formed on the corresponding sidewalls of the cage assembly. Further, the two sidewalls near the opening of the cage assembly are bended inward to form a locking tab, respectively, to retain the wedge elements. When the bail is being rotated, the handle is driven forward such that the wedge element is flexibly compressed to disengage from the locking tab and is thus released from the locked state. Consequently, the transceiver module is free to slide out of the cage assembly.
The first feature of the patent described above is that the relative motion of the handle and the bail occurs at an eccentric cam slot longitudinally formed at the sidewalls and a straight second slot transversally formed at the bottom of the handle; further, the first axis pin and the second axis pin of the bail are received, respectively, in the eccentric cam slot and the straight second slot, such that when the bail is being rotated, the slots and axis pins of the handle move with respect to each other and in turn transversally move forward to be released from snap engagement.
Further, the second feature lies in the fact that the bail has a protruding tab to define a slot which in turn receives a boss protruding from the sidewall of the handle, such that when the bail is in the locked position, the slot and the boss form a snap engagement to locate the bail.